“Big Three” Mfrs. Included In Anti-Trust Case

by Scott Webb September 27, 2012 14:55 PM

The US District Court of the Eastern District of Louisiana has agreed to allow a filing to expand the list of defendants in an ongoing anti-trust action to include “Big Three” manufacturers Pentair, Hayward and Zodiac.

 The case was originally brought against Covington, La.-based PoolCorp by a group of 11 dealers and consumers accusing the distribution giant of intimidating manufacturers in order to stop them from selling products through competing distribution channels.

 In November 2011, PoolCorp settled a similar suit filed by the FTC, in which the distributor admitted no guilt but agreed to certain remedies. In that case, PoolCorp was accused of threatening to shut manufacturers out of PoolCorp’s distribution if those manufacturers also sold products through PoolCorp’s rivals.

 Shortly afterwards, however, new suits were filed by dealers alleging they had been harmed, in part through higher product prices resulting from PoolCorp’s anti-competitive tactics.

The case took a new turn when the plaintiffs asked the court to attach Hayward, Zodiac and Pentair as defendants, in essence accusing them of collaborating with PoolCorp by going along with the scheme. As the Big Three dominate equipment manufacturing in the pool business, the effect of the alleged collusion was to shut out competition in pool distribution.

The plaintiffs are also hoping to expand the scope of the case into a broader, class-action suit that would qualify others in the industry to receive proceeds from an award should the case ultimately be decided for the plaintiffs.

At the same time, PoolCorp and the Big Three have asked the court to dismiss the case. Hearings on that motion are scheduled for October.

 



Scott Webb has been with AQUA magazine in one capacity or another since April 2001; he now serves as executive editor. Scott has a degree from University of Cincinnati in Aerospace Engineering and lives in Madison, Wisc.

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Comments (2) -

10/5/2012 11:39:26 AM #

The pool business is based on mom and pop companies, Pool Corp. is a giant and cares more abouth the bottom line than their customers.  Do yourself and the whole industry a favor and buy from small distributers as much as possible,   Pool Corp.'s distributers and employees do not care about you or your company, they care about the all mighty dollar, and how much they can squeeze out of you.  I hope the big manufactors file a case against them and win, it will probably never happen but one can hope.  My cats breath smells like cat food.  In conclusion buy from your local mom and pop distributers, they care about you and will give you better service in the long run.  Hell they might even buy you dinner.  

God Bless our Troops
I rule supreme.
All cats must and will die.


Bill the pool guy.
you know who I am

Bill

10/8/2012 1:48:07 PM #

I used to work for Pool Corp, and you are right, they only care about the bottom line. I was fired from the company for something I did not do.  I couldn't give my customers the service I promised them because of my regional manager.  It was a horrible working environment.   Any chance you have to not give Pool Corp your money take it.

bryan

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